cliff negotiations that. is something that the republicans have to deal with. and i think the republicans and making sure that the debt ceiling is extended for a long time because the one thing that could hurt the economy even more than going off some curb or cliff or slope is if we had a rep tilgs of the debt ceiling battle that we had in 2011. >> so in your view right now, you think that we're past -- potentially past the tax reform question? it's about not the stimulus money but the debt ceiling negotiation and it's important because many communities are not impacted by private sector job growth and need the public sector jobs that the stimulus would bring. >> yes. i think that, you know, you can't declare something done until it's done. but i think all of the signals you're getting from the republicans is that they realize that the last thing they need to be doing right now is to look like they are holding up middle class tax cuts to protect tax cuts for the very wealthy. that's not where they want to be